(Item #956263) is available
now in all Costco warehouses. Robbins is donating all of the proceeds,
along with an additional
personal donation, which will feed 50
million meals to people in need this year, distributed by the hunger-relief charity Feeding
America (
feedingamerica.org).

arts & entertainment

Taking steps toward financial freedomBy Tony Robbins

IT’S BEEN TWO decades since motivational
speaker Tony Robbins has published a book.
This month marks his return to Costco’s book
tables with MONEY Master the Game: 7
Simple Steps to Financial Freedom. The book
is Robbins’ effort to help everyone find financial security.

In this Connection exclusive, Robbins
addresses the new book and why it was
important to him to write it.

—Stephanie E. Ponder

Did you know that:

; 77 percent of Americans say they have
financial worries, but only 40 percent report
having any kind of a spending plan.

; One in three baby boomers has less than
$1,000 saved for retirement.

; The No. 1 fear of baby boomers is outliving the money they have saved. (Death, by
the way, checked in at second place.)

; According to an Ernst & Young study,
75 percent of Americans can expect to see
their assets disappear before they die.

Let’s face it: Our lives are filled to the brim.

We’re trying to be the best we can at work. Wewant to be extraordinary partners at home,outstanding parents, supportive friends and,in the midst of all this, somehow we’re alsosupposed to be financial experts who knowhow to take our basic earnings and perhaps a401(k) and convert what we’ve got into lifelongstability, financial security and hopefully somefreedom when we finally retire.

The thing that holds us back financially is
the feeling that it’s all just too complex.
Complexity is the enemy of execution.

For more than 37 years I’ve been obsessed
with bringing people immediate and lasting
results through simple, systematic solutions
in the significant areas of life—relationships,
emotions, time management, physical health
and business. I’ve worked with people in
more than 100 countries, and I’ve realized
that money challenges people in unique ways.
So, I became passionate about creating a system that could help.

I know how difficult it is to get that first
leg up on your finances. I’ve worked long and
hard to enjoy the level of professional and
financial success I’m blessed with today, but
it wasn’t always this way. In my younger days
I juggled jobs to make ends meet, and I know
what it’s like to live paycheck-to-paycheck.

But here’s the truth: Freedom from financialstress is possible no matter where you’restarting from. It doesn’t matter how old youare or how little you have—the game is stillwinnable. But you must participate in yourown rescue.

I want to help you decipher the disorienting jargon of money: 401(k)s, IRAs, CDs,
HFTs. I know that to master any game, you
need to learn from the best. So, I went on a
mission to speak to the world’s top financial
experts and find out how they did it. I set out
to be your translator and guide, so that
together we could crack the code that keeps
most people feeling like uninvited outsiders
in a world of wealthy elitists.

I wrote this book to level the playing field
and democratize the game of personal
finance. I truly believe that MONEY Master
the Game is one of the most important books
you can own. It’s an opportunity to create
financial stability for you and the ones you
love. The game of money is winnable, and it’s
one you simply can’t afford to lose. C

Money

mastersFRANCESCOCARROZZINI

Tony Robbins

THE AVERAGE PERSON has no idea
how much he or she is paying in fees on
a 401(k) or mutual fund. But what
you don’t know will hurt you. According
to Forbes, the average annual fee for a
mutual fund is 3.17%. I will show you
how to cut that fee down to 1%. But first,
here’s a look at the return of $1 million
invested, with an 8% assumed annualized return over 30 years.—TR

ANNUAL FEE RETURNThe impact of fees

1% $7.6 million
2% $5.7 million

3% $4.3 million
In our digital editions

Click here for a video of Tony
Robbins explaining the motivation
behind his book. (See page 11
for details.)